


Four Times Phil Coulson Was A Damsel In Distress (And One Time He Played Damsel In Distress)

by zauberer_sirin



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: 5 Things, Daisy being lowkey in love with Coulson since forever, Developing Relationship, Director Daisy Johnson, F/M, Future Fic, Mild Kink, POV Skye | Daisy Johnson, Romance, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 07:43:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14689587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zauberer_sirin/pseuds/zauberer_sirin
Summary: Coulson seems to have an affinity for being saved by a certain superhero through the years.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RowboatCop](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RowboatCop/gifts).



In the ride back to the Bus Simmons says something about how weird it is to see Coulson so weak, so helpless, because he’s always so solid. 

Skye doesn’t really get what she means, though; yeah, Coulson is solid if solid means reliable, a stand up person. But ever since she met him Skye has thought of the man as somewhat fragile - he just seems like a… a guy, doing his best, in a world full of danger and monsters. She likes that about him; he’s not like Ward, who sometimes looks like he towers over things (though that’s also a good thing to have by your side, Skye adds mentally). Coulson looks like things really get to him - he just hides it well. She feels a pang of recognition there.

So she waits until everybody has left the cargo area, so she and Coulson can be alone, and maybe he can let go of what’s obviously troubling him. His usual dark suit versus his fresh injuries, it’s a strange sight.

Coulson thanks her for what she did for him; it makes Skye feel itchy somehow, the unfamiliarity of those words. She can’t remember anyone thanking her for something like this before. The events of the day star to seem absurd upon consideration: she stole two cars to get to his side, and when she found him he looked like something out of a fairytale, the way Skye had to call his name to drag him out of the claws of that awful machine. It feels like something someone else did, not Skye.

He doesn’t tell her the whole truth about what happened back there, and that’s fine, she wouldn’t want to force him to do anything after what he’s been through - it feels a bit sad, still, and she hopes one day he can trust her with the truth.

He says he appreciates her concern, the phrase formal but the voice warm, and this time he sounds genuine. 

“Don’t make a habit out of this, boss,” Skye says. The _boss_ so stilted. She still can’t get used to the idea of any kind of authority - especially Coulson. Authority is cold, and cruel and impersonal. Coulson is… the opposite of all those things. Authority is what Skye has been fighting against most her life. Coulson is someone she can see herself fighting alongside with.

“A habit?” he asks.

She almost makes a joke about how she won’t always be there to save him, about him being a damsel in distress, but she stops herself. Not just because it’d be crass, but also presumptuous. She didn’t save him or anything. She’s just glad she could help a bit find his location.

“Disappearing,” Skye says instead, a memory of the scent of ash and the noise of a helicopter overhead, Coulson’s name scrapping her throat. “Just… don’t do that.”

He looks a bit unsure for a moment, like the idea of Skye not wanting him to get into trouble or get hurt, is a strange one in itself. Then he does, quietly, hurrying to end the conversation and go his own way, looking guilty as he does, confirming Skye’s more-than-a-suspicions that he wasn’t telling her the truth. She watches him disappear into his office, looking both solid and fragile once more.


	2. Chapter 2

“So what is this about taking us all to a diner?” she asks, as they lag behind the rest of the team a bit, walking side by side out of the others’ earshot..

She’s suspicious, she knows Coulson hasn’t told them the truth about his deal with the Ghost Rider, and she is just looking for an in so she can press him on it.

“I thought it’d be nice if we could all have a meal together,” he says.

“Before going to jail, you mean?”

Coulson stares at her for a moment. Intently. Like he’s deciding whether to tell her something or not. Daisy is a bit disappointed when she can see it in his eyes that he decides to keep quiet about whatever that is.

“Yeah,” he says, the word coming out as if his throat was raw. “Before going to jail.”

Okay, he’s keeping it close to his chest, Daisy realizes. The problem is, she of all people doesn’t know how to press Coulson about these things. So she doesn’t. And he’s been through so much in just a few days… She can give the guy a breather.

“I wouldn’t say no to some pancakes,” she tells him, her voice light.

Coulson chuckles lightly.

They might be going to jail for a long time but at least they still share the same taste in food. Daisy tries not to overthink it, it feels good after all the fake-world experiences, to just walk by Coulson’s side, talking about desserts, like finally Daisy has a moment to reflect how much she’s missed him, all those months alone.

“Thank you for going in to get us all,” he tells her. “Thank you for getting me the hell out of there.”

She shrugs. “You’re our boss, I couldn’t let you spend the rest of your days giving detention to teenagers and making your own soap.”

Coulson closes his eyes for a moment, obviously ashamed of the memory.

But then Daisy realizes his pained expression has another source.

“I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you in there, inside the Framework,” he tells her.

It’s too soon afterwards, and Daisy hasn’t had time to process everything that’s happened; physically exhausted as well, she doesn’t think she has the spoons to revisit how it felt to find out that the one person in her life she knew she could always count on had forgotten her completely.

She shakes her head. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“Still…” Coulson goes on. “Thank you for not giving up on me.”

He says it like she had a choice.

“You’d have done the same for me,” Daisy states.

“But I didn’t, not this time,” he says. “You saved me.”

Again he personalizes it. Not just the team. She’s thanking her for what she did for him.

Daisy doesn’t know how to reply to that. She has never been able to react accordingly, when Coulson says all those Coulson-like things that make her feel like there’s a place in the world for her, after all. It’s a feeling that prickles her skin, but in a good, warm way, every time Coulson thanks her for something.

She looks away, her cheeks hot.

“Just buy me an extra helping of pancakes and we’re even,” she says, walking on a bit further.

She can feel Coulson looking at her as he follows.


	3. Chapter 3

She drags him out of the rubble, and for a moment she thinks the whole world is rubble, just like the prophecies.

But no, the world is still here.

It’s just a bit of rubble.

“You didn’t destroy the world,” Coulson says, from where he is, lying on the ground, bloodied, exhausted.

He doesn’t sound like he’s surprised by the fact, just that he wants her to believe it as well.

“Yeah, yeah. Equally important…” she rests one hand on his shoulder, lightly, trying not to apply pressure on an injury. She’s kneeling by his side, too tired to try to get him up, too tired to get up herself. “You’re alive.”

Coulson sighs and for a moment Daisy is frightened he might be disappointed, that he had wanted to die (she knows what that feels like). But she looks closer and there’s a tiny hint of a smile, okay, maybe just the beginning of a smile, on Coulson’s face. She thinks about how much she loves that face and how much it was breaking her heart to think she might not see it again.

“The Kree, Talbot, what’s left of Hydra, my own body attacking me…” he starts listing. “And you did it.”

He doesn’t have to finish the thought.

Daisy saved him.

Like she told him she would.

He doesn’t sound shocked at all, just humorously unsurprised.

Daisy takes a breath and realizes how much all this has taken a toll. She’s not too badly injured but she is spent - almost literally, she doesn’t think she can use her powers in a long time. She quietly collapses next to Coulson; more than _next to_ , she rests her head over his chest. They lie there, breathing together, among the ruble.

“I told you,” Daisy says, and it’s a whisper, but that’s fine, Coulson is close enough to hear. “I can’t do this without you.”

This time he doesn't contradict her.


	4. Chapter 4

She finds Coulson last, which is not great for her mounting anxiety. Perhaps this is what it means to be a boss, she decides, to keep a clear head and formulate a plan when, as they liberate room after room, all she wants to do is find Coulson as soon as possible, and it’s all she can do to push other plans away from her head, the plans that prioritize just that.

She trusts that he can handle himself, that helps.

It’s not really about being the boss now - she’s always felt a weird responsibility for Coulson. Ever since Raina and the Clairvoyant took him away to torture him in the middle of the desert; she found him then, and ever since Daisy has felt it’s her role to find him every time he gets lost. Being Coulson’s superior only gives that feeling an official turn.

They find him last, and by the time she Quakes the two intruders guarding him she and the team have rid the new base of threats. As a baptism of fire for the new SHIELD she wasn’t expecting to get a hit in their own home, but it could have been worse.

While the others take care of the two unconscious men on the floor Daisy runs to free Coulson.

“Sorry,” he says, like he - tied to a chair, a bit roughed up, Daisy holds his chin in her hand to examine the damage - is the one in the wrong here. “I know you expected a calmer first day as Director.”

“Was your first day calm?” she jokes.

He smiles. She looks back, making the calculations. His first official day as Director involved alien carving, most possibly, figuring out what to do with their Nazi spy team member, and keeping secrets from Daisy. Maybe, when it comes down to it, Daisy prefers a little breaking and entering.

“Don’t make a habit out of this, agent,” Daisy teases, touching his arm. “I might not always be here to save you.”

“That…” Coulson points out, swallowing. “You’ve definitely made a habit of.”

He doesn’t have to say it with words.

_That_.

Saving him.


	5. Chapter 5

Daisy opens the door, her arm stretched, her body poised in an offensive position.

She tries hard to look shocked and appalled when she finds Coulson naked and handcuffed to the bed.

She tries hard to look shocked and not like she’s enjoying the view - well, that part it’s not important she pretends about, it’s kind of the point that she’s excited by the scene.

“You’ve arrived just in time,” Coulson says, pretending he’s fighting against the cuffs. His voice is weird, a little higher than usual, and then Daisy realizes he’s just enjoying playing his part.

And yes, when she reaches his side - crossing the room in a hurry, as if it was a villain’s den and not a luxurious suite - he is already half-hard, aroused by the mere expectation of what might happen.

“Are you okay?” Daisy asks, trying to sound like she doesn’t knows him.

Coulson looks up and gives her a look of adoration; there is a strange pang of recognition here, because his expression now is an exaggeration, for their game, but it’s oddly familiar, not unlike the way Coulson has looked at her before, even before she ever imagined she’d ever see him naked, let alone be glad of the sight.

“I am now,” he tells her.

“Let me search for the key,” Daisy says, turning over the pillows pretending she’s looking for it.

“Thank you for saving me, Quake,” he says and Daisy finds the name strange in his mouth.

Daisy lets out a very nervous chuckle. It’s not the corniness of the scenario - she knows Coulson likes sexy on the side of corny, and she has began to truly appreciate the combination - it’s that she has a hard time playing the role of, well, _herself_.

Coulson looks annoyed, her chuckling on the verge of ruining the illusion.

“Daisy.”

“Sorry, sorry, I’m nervous,” she says.

His expression softens.

“If this isn’t your thing-”

“No, it’s fine, fine,” she hurries to say. She wants to do this for Coulson; he’s so good with _her_ fantasies, with what she wants in bed. She was excited at the prospect of him asking to do this. “Can we start again?”

He nods, smiling sweetly.

They go back to the initial set up.

He’s been taken prisoner by the bad guys (unnamed organization, Daisy feels like using one of their actual enemies would be tempting fate). She finds him. For some reason, naked (absurd, she agrees, but hey, it’s a fantasy, after all).

It goes better the second time.

When Coulson says “How can I ever repay you?” it sounds sexy and Daisy has fun with it, has fun making him wait for it, making him squirm against the expensive pillows of the hotel bed.

She gives him an exaggerated tilt of her head and a smirk.

“I can think of a couple of things…”

When she kisses him Coulson makes a high-pitched sound. The freedom of privacy, and not a base shared with a hundred other agents. Daisy kisses hard, rough, taking control, like the hero would do in a movie, only less PG-rated. A lot less PG-rated.

Coulson melts under her kiss, classically, like a heroine.

She knows he likes the way the fabric of her mission suit feels against his naked skin. He’s talked about this fantasy months ago - which made Daisy wonder how much longer he’s had it. It makes her feel a bit embarrassed for all those times they have been on the field together, Coulson following her lead, fighting by her side. But it’s that embarrassment part of what makes this exciting - the acknowledgement that there’s _always_ this current between them, not just when they are in bed together.

“Yes, I think I’ll take my thanks now,” Daisy says, running her hands along Coulson’s bare chest, the rough material of the underside of her gloves making him shiver.

She uses her mouth on him, tracing paths over familiar spots with her tongue, tasting his racing heartbeat in her teeth.

Her hands don’t even have to touch his erection - Daisy has learned to use her vibrations to alternatively arouse Coulson and numb the area to delay orgasm. She calls her “unauthorized use of Inhuman powers” and they both joke the move probably breaks a few Sokovia Accords.

Coulson lights up like a Christmas tree when he feels her powers on his skin.

“Quake, you’re my hero,” he tells her breathlessly.

It makes Daisy blush, how genuine it sounds.

Like he’s been waiting a long time to tell her.


End file.
